Wind tunnels are available in many types and styles depending upon the needs of the user. These include, without limitation, subsonic wind tunnels with and without return flow, transonic wind tunnels with and without return flow, vertical subsonic wind tunnels with and without return flow, supersonic and hypersonic wind tunnels with and without return flow, and compressible flow wind tunnels.
Wind tunnels may be used in the testing of conventional aircraft, helicopters, parachutes, and other aerodynamic devices, wing surfaces, control surfaces, submarines, rockets, and other launch vehicles, ground vehicles such as automobiles and trucks, buildings, other basic flow investigations, and, more recently, amusement (i.e., recreational use). The wind tunnel state of the art may be gleaned from the following patents and patent applications.
U.S. Pat. No. RE43,028 E1 is directed to a vertical wind tunnel amusement device. U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,909 is directed to a skydiving simulator combining a vertical air chamber with a video projection system on the interior wall. U.S. Pat. No. 7,028,542 is directed to a reduced drag cable for use in vertical wind tunnels and other applications with a change in the spacing and/or size of the strands of a standard twisted wire cable. U.S. Pat. No. 7,156,744 is directed to a vertical wind tunnel flight simulator comprising a flight chamber wherein a flyer may experience a freefall simulation. U.S. Patent Number 2012/0312502 is directed to a cooling system for a wind tunnel.
Despite the prior attempts, a need exists for a more efficient, compact, economical wind tunnel, more specifically; a need exists for a more efficient, compact, economical vertical wind tunnel. The present invention facilitates the creation of such wind tunnels.